Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent

Be careful what you wish for, is kind of what Jesus says to the sons of Zebedee today. Those of us who are disciples will indeed drink of Jesus’ same chalice, but when we take it we must remember that it is a chalice of suffering and persecution. So we are never given the guarantee of trouble-free days. We will have suffering in this life. But we drink of that chalice in order to gain the reward of everlasting life. That was the only hope for the prophet Jeremiah in today’s first reading, and that is our hope as well.